NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2026 — JetBlue is having the hardest time of any major U.S. airline recovering from Friday’s FAA ground stop. FlightAware data cited by Men’s Journal show it canceled 432 flights on Saturday, Nov. 14 — about 49% of its schedule — and had already canceled 249 Sunday flights (about 27%) by 8:04 a.m. ET, the highest share among the big U.S. carriers.
What happened
The FAA halted departures nationwide on the afternoon of Friday, Nov. 13, after a communications failure hit multiple air route traffic control centers. The stop began at about 3:53 p.m. ET and was lifted at about 8:15 p.m. ET. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the outage started during contractor L3Harris’s work moving lines from copper to fiber at a remote FAA site; officials said there was no evidence of a cyberattack. FAA Administrator Bedford said many crews and aircraft ended Friday out of position, which drove the weekend cancellations, and that airlines expect full schedules again by the close of business Sunday.
JetBlue canceled the rest of its Friday flying except Europe-bound departures from JFK and Boston and warned of more cancellations into Saturday, VisaVerge reported. By mid-afternoon Saturday it had canceled 43% of that day’s schedule, per FlightAware figures cited by Yahoo News; the full-day share later reached about 49%.
| Day | JetBlue cancellations | Share of schedule | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14 (full day) | 432 | about 49% | FlightAware via Men’s Journal |
| Sun., Nov. 15 (as of 8:04 a.m. ET) | 249 | about 27% | FlightAware via Men’s Journal |
The waiver
- Covers JetBlue-operated flights scheduled Nov. 13–15 on bookings made before Nov. 13.
- Change and cancellation fees and fare differences are waived; rebooked travel must be completed by Nov. 18.
- Refunds go to the original form of payment if the trip is canceled before the scheduled departure.
What it means for non-revs
- Operating JetBlue flights are absorbing customers from roughly 680 weekend cancellations. Expect full loads on JetBlue flights, especially from JFK and Boston, through at least the Nov. 18 rebooking deadline.
- If you must fly JetBlue before midweek, list on the first flights of the day and line up a backup on another carrier.
- Thanksgiving travel starts the following week, so loads may stay heavy even after the waiver window closes. If your trip is flexible, the cleanest move is to wait.
- None of the sources reviewed reported a JetBlue pass-travel embargo; check your travel portal before listing.
Sources
- Men’s Journal, “FAA Outage Cancellations Top 15,000 as JetBlue Cuts More Than a Quarter of Its Sunday Flights” — https://www.mensjournal.com/news/faa-ground-stop-sunday-cancellations-crowdstrike
- Yahoo News, “FAA ground stop latest updates: Saturday cancellations top 6,000; controllers’ union chief says communications with some planes were disrupted; Duffy blames L3Harris” — https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/live/faa-ground-stop-latest-updates-duffy-blames-contractor-l3harris-thousands-more-flights-canceled-saturday-no-sign-of-cyberattack-161329174.html
- VisaVerge, “FAA Ground Stop Fallout: Saturday Cancellations by Airline” — https://www.visaverge.com/airlines/faa-ground-stop-saturday-cancellations-by-airline/
- Newsweek, “FAA Ground Stop: Latest Airline Advice As More Than 1,000 Flights Canceled” — https://www.newsweek.com/faa-ground-stop-flight-cancellations-update-airline-advice-12717253
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